5 Ways to Sound More Confident During Q&A
Posted On January 31, 2023 BY Dean Brenner
Lots of people spend time working on their preparation for their presentations. But for many, we spend considerably less time preparing for what follows the presentation… the Q&A. And in fact, one of the questions we hear most often in our coaching sessions is this: Can you help me sound more confident, when I am […]
Start with Clarity and Brevity (But Don’t Forget the Context, Impact And Value)
Posted On January 26, 2023 BY Dean Brenner
When you speak to an audience — be it a room full of executives, a staff meeting, or a one-on-one phone call with a client — keeping a few key concepts in mind can help you get your message across persuasively and powerfully. Clarity, for example, ensures that your audience understands exactly what you are saying; brevity […]
Repeatable Preparation Leads to Repeatable Performance
Posted On January 24, 2023 BY Dean Brenner
Let’s talk about elite performance today. Every business leader or business owner knows that running a successful business is really hard. It is a competitive endeavor of the highest order. The things required to build, grow, and sustain a successful business is a long list. There are hard choices and performance requirements that pop up […]
The Key to Building Credibility
Posted On January 19, 2023 BY Dean Brenner
Let’s talk about building credibility… real credibility. Not the short term version of credibility that comes from a referral or a common friendship or the personal courtesy of someone giving you a chance. No… let’s talk about the long-term credibility that is built by you, your actions and your performance. Real credibility is created in […]
The Psychology of Weak Language
Posted On January 17, 2023 BY Dean Brenner
One of the things I listen closely for in our workshops is a certain kind of vocabulary that we call “weak” or “qualifying” language. And when I hear it, my coaching sensors start ringing loudly. Words or phrases like “sort of,” “kind of,” “pretty much,” or “basically,” can be toxic for the speaker and dramatically […]
Message Planning: How to Choose Your Focus
Posted On January 12, 2023 BY Dean Brenner
We spend a lot of our time with clients working on message development. We focus on delivery as well, but good delivery is almost irrelevant if you have not first worked out what the message will be. In other words: What you say is really more important than how you say it. When building a […]
Using Empathy To Connect With Your Audience
Posted On January 5, 2023 BY Dean Brenner
As a coach, I see a lot of different kinds of speakers: those who are confident and controlled and others who are nervous and still figuring out how to get their point across. And I’ve had people ask, “Don’t you sometimes want to laugh at how bad some of these presentations can be?” It might be hard to believe, […]
The Fine Line of Self-Deprecation
Posted On December 19, 2022 BY Dean Brenner
I had an interesting question come up in a workshop last week. One of the participants made a statement and then asked me to validate it… he said “You can never go wrong being self-deprecating… right?“ I thought about it for a few moments, and quickly responded with “I am not sure I agree with […]
Why You Should Never Compromise Your Communication Efforts
Posted On December 12, 2022 BY Dean Brenner
We coach people to be as powerful in their communication as possible. But sometimes, your audience is just not open to what you have to say. Our clients often share experiences where the audience is not always open minded. Some of our clients tell us, “They don’t want to hear that from me,” due to […]
Organizing the Detail in Your Presentations
Posted On December 5, 2022 BY Dean Brenner
Several of my coaching conversations have been focused on the same thing of late… when I am speaking to my boss, how do I stay out of the weeds? I get stuck in the deep detail, and he/she gets frustrated with me. Sound familiar? “Too much detail” is a constant issue in the 21st century business […]